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Spring
Literary Tours
In
an effort to provide a full week of literary events
for booklovers, the Center this spring scheduled two
special functions in conjunction with the 2004 Oxford
Conference for the Book— a literary tour of the Mississippi
Delta and a program on Eudora Welty in Jackson. The
Delta literary tour, organized by the Center and the
Viking Range Corporation, took place March 29 to April
1, preceding the conference, while the Center joined
with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History–with
the assistance of a National Endowment for the Arts
grant–to offer the Welty event April 4 and 5, immediately
following the conference.
On the first leg of the Delta tour, participants had
the opportunity to explore Greenwood, the town where
legendary bluesman Robert Johnson was put to rest
and where playwright Endesha Ida Mae Holland spent
her youth. Scheduled among the literary stops were
breaks for barbecue and other favorite Delta foods
and, of course, live blues. Additionally, Greenwood’s
Alluvian Hotel, the critically acclaimed boutique
hotel operated by Viking, served as home base for
the entire trip.
The second day of the tour was spent exploring Greenville,
home of William Alexander Percy, Walker Percy, Shelby
Foote, and novelist Beverly Lowry, who was on hand
for the tour. Many Greenville residents joined the
group at the William Alexander Percy Library to hear
literary scholar Kenneth Holditch present “The Athens
of the South: Walker Percy and His Circle.” After
lunch at the home of Lisa and Billy Percy, Hugh McCormick
gave a brief history of Greenville, and Mary Dayle
McCormick and Princella Wilkerson Nowell led tours
of the city and the Greenville Cemetery. The day ended
at McCormick Book Inn, where Greenville authors signed
copies of their books, bluesman Eddie Cusic performed,
and members of the Greenville Arts Council served
refreshments.
The final day of the tour was dedicated to Clarksdale,
where Tennessee Williams spent much of his early childhood.
There, Holditch discussed the playwright and led a
tour of sites connected to his life and work. Luther
Brown and Henry Outlaw, of Delta State University,
joined the group as guides for visits to Money, Ruleville,
Drew, Parchman, Rome, Tutwiler, and other Delta communities.
Lunch in Clarksdale was at Ground Zero, with music
by Big T.
“The Delta has a rich history of music and food,”
said Jimmy Thomas, a Delta native and guide for the
Greenville part of the tour. “But just as important
is its rich literary history.” Thomas, who serves
as managing editor for the new edition of the Encyclopedia
of Southern Culture, said that Greenville, in the
heart of the Delta, has produced more writers per
capita than any other city in the United States. And
that’s a fact the people of the Delta are happy to
share. “The people of the Delta are very proud of
what comes from there, and they’re also very inviting
and appreciative of anyone who visits to admire or
take part in the abundance of literary culture.”
An abundance of literary culture can also be found
at 119 Pinehurst, the address of Eudora Welty’s Jackson
home. Although the house where Welty spent more than
76 years will not open for some time, the garden that
Welty maintained with her mother, Chestina Andrews
Welty, opened April 3. On Sunday, April 4, archival
gardener Susan Haltom led a private tour of the garden
for Welty program participants. Welty’s fiction alludes
to more than 150 varieties of plant species, many
of which grew in the garden created by Welty’s mother.
The garden has now been restored to its 1940s look,
based on documentation found in the Welty home. “To
see the garden itself—the flowers and plants—evokes
passages and imagery that Eudora wrote about in her
stories,” said Mary Alice Welty White, Welty’s niece
and the home’s curator.
Later that evening, Welty participants enjoyed dinner
at the Old Capitol Inn while listening to a talk on
Welty’s achievements by Peggy Whitman Prenshaw and
a reading of “Petrified Man” by actor John Maxwell.
The program concluded the following morning with a
tour of the new William Winter Archives and History
Building, a talk about the Welty Collections by her
biographer Suzanne Marrs, and a review of plans for
public programming at the Welty House by Patti Carr
Black. “With the garden and Eudora’s correspondence,
awards and other papers, Eudora’s home will be one
of the most complete literary home museums in the
country once it’s restored. Everything is right there,”
said Welty White.
The garden will be open one day a week until the Welty
House opens as a museum. The garden is now open Wednesdays
form 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, but reservations
are required. To make a reservation, e-mail weltytours@mdah.state.ms.us
or call 601-353-7762.
Jennifer
Southall
Pictured at the Percy home in Greenville are (from
left) Lisa Percy, Jim McMullan and Carlette McMullan,
and Billy Percy
Franke
Keating (left) and Allen Linton at the Percy home
Nancy
Ashley (left) with Willie Seaberry, operator of
Po’ Monkey Lounge near Marigold, Mississippi
Kenneth Holditch and Tay Gillespie
in Clarksdale at St. George’s Episcopal Church,
where Tennessee Williams’s grandfather was rector
for many years
Touring the newly opened Welty garden
Patti Carr Black (left) and Tay Gillespie in the
Welty garden
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